Dying Dreams
by Radon
Summary: MaiOtomeAU, spoilers for up to episode 15. I wonder, what happens to dreams when you wake up? Where do they go, do they disappear? Or… maybe… can a dream, something that isn’t real, die? No pairings...yet.
1. Prologue

Dying dreams.

A Mai-Otome fan-fic by Radon

Disclaimer: Mai-Otome and all related characters are property of Sunrise I do not own any part of it, personally I blame the universe for this.

All original characters appearing in the story belong to me though.

Like it? Review please. Don't like it? Review and let me know what's wrong.

Summary: An AU story of the Mai-Otome world that splits of at episode 15 of the anime. It is recommended that you've seen at least up to this point as the story will contain some spoilers from earlier episodes. Rated T for minor language and mentioning of adult themes.

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* * *

Prologue**

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* * *

**

Footsteps echoed through the empty streets as a young girl made her way into the sleeping city, light from the streetlights casting ghastly shadows on the ground as she moved by. Thousands of thoughts were buzzing through her head as she hopelessly tried to make sense of her feelings, she re-played the words of her friend for what must have been the hundredth time in the last hour.

''_Rena-oneesama is a Meister who left behind an amazing history. Also she inherited Windbloom's sapphire of the Azure Sky for a full ten years. As a Meister she served the King, but one day she decided to take off that gemstone.''_

_Arika looked at her friend, understanding suddenly dawning on her. ''That's….''_

_Erstine nodded before she continued. ''It was so she could be with the one she loved._

''_Where is she now?'' _

''…_Fifteen years ago, when insurgents invaded the castle, at that time, she and her baby girl, who's about the same age as Mashiro-sama, both went missing._

_Miss Maria told us this story when we entered this school. She fulfilled her dream and gained love, as an Otome… No, as a woman she lived a very full life. She even said she never thought she could do all that.''_

''_Love …and dreams…'' Arika touched her pendant holding the two blue gemstones, a memento of her mother and also the GEM that had belonged to her mother._

''_You have to go and make sure.'' The blonde girl advised her._

And as Arika made her way to the embassy more thoughts coursed through her head.

''_Grandma also told me, when you're scared just forge ahead. That person, even if he's a middle-aged old man who likes to tease, but I…''_

The Otome in training touched her pendant again with a determined look on her face.

''_That's why I have to go, to see my true feelings.''_

Long after the girl's footsteps had faded away another pair followed through the same street, whereas the girl had moved fast and with little sound the footsteps of this one sounded heavy an observant listener would even discern the sound of metal scraping along the stones.


	2. Ch1 Waking up

Dying dreams.

A Mai-Otome fan-fic by Radon

Disclaimer: Mai-Otome and all related characters are property of Sunrise I do not own any part of it. Looks up and shakes fist. ''And its all your fault!''

All original characters appearing in the story belong to me though.

Like it? Review please. Don't like it? Review and let me know what's wrong.

Summary: An AU story of the Mai-Otome world that splits of at episode 15 of the anime. It is recommended that you've seen atleast up to this point as the story will contain some spoilers from earlier episodes. Rated T for minor language and mentioning of adult themes.

* * *

**Chapter 1**

Waking up.

_I wonder, what happens to dreams when you wake up? Where do they go, do they disappear? Or… maybe… can a dream, something that isn't real, die?_

_

* * *

_

The figure moved through the alleys of Windbloom slowly but surely making its way out of the city. Its heavy cloak masked it features, one could not even make out its gender, though its size and relative shape suggested it was male.

A flash of light suddenly lit up a dark alleyway to the left of the figure, it halted, looking briefly in the direction of the flash. Another flash illuminated the darkness briefly yet the figure could not make out anything in the alley, muffled voices echoing between the alley's walls reached it.

''Aren't you done yet, we finished the job so lets get out of here before someone finds us.''

''Relax I'll just take a few more and I'm done, its almost full anyway.''

Another flash.

The figure moved into the alley making no pretend of stealth as its heavy footsteps clanked loudly in the night.

''Shit someone's coming, let's go, move it!''

The sound of running footsteps faded slowly as the figure moved passed a slight curve in the alley and moved up to the place where it presumed the group had been standing just moments earlier.

There was nothing there, just a filthy looking dumpster and some trash that was scattered around. Just as the figure turned around it caught something in the corner of its eye. A small pool of blood lay on the ground, it scanned the ground more carefully and discovered a few red smears as well. They seemed to lead towards the dumpster.

The figure moved up to the dumpster and looked behind it. For a second the figure froze and a strange and inhuman metallic voice sounded in the night. ''Bastards.''

On the ground behind the dumpster lay a young girl, there was blood on and around her legs but there were no apparent wounds on her. Remnants of what the figure assumed to be her clothes were dumped onto and around her, the only thing it could tell was that they had been red and white at one point. The girl's eyes were closed but her chest still moved up and down, if a bit slowly.

''So your alive, don't worry I'll…'' The figure hesitated as though it was remembering something.

''I'll help you, I will take you far away from those men, you will be safe with me.'' The figure stood up and looked around before pulling some relatively clean rags from the dumpster and wrapping them around the unconscious girl.

Once the girl was covered the figure lifted her up, revealing a metal-clad chest and arms beneath its cloak. It turned around, heading back out of the alley, not noticing a small stone dropping to the ground, nor a hint of blue shining beneath the pile of torn clothes.

The figure took of, moving faster then before. It reached the edge of a nearby water channel and, without pausing, leapt over it. Landing on the other side it bent its knees and jumped almost straight up, landing on the roof of a building this time. With several more leaps it was well on its way out of the city.

* * *

A ray of sunlight crept through the curtains of the room and landed square on the face of a blue haired girl. She was sitting at her desk, her head resting on her arms and her eyes closed, she was sound asleep. She moaned a bit as the light fell on her eyes, slowly she opened one of them before quickly shutting it against the light. After a few more seconds she pushed herself up from the desk and opened both her eyes. She yawned, rubbed her eyes and looked around the room.

Her own bed was empty, which was to be expected seeing as she had slept in her chair. A blonde girl was sleeping in the other bed, her head turned away from the light, from where she stood she couldn't see on top of the higher bed.

She walked over and gently shook the sleeping girl's shoulder. ''Ers wake up, morning cleaning is about to start.'' She then climbed up the small ladder on the side of the bed and her head came level with the top bunk. ''Wake up Ari….'' The bed was empty, for a second she thought that her friend had gotten up early but she quickly dismissed this thought. The fundamental workings of the universe would have to be changed before that would ever happen.

''Nina-chan is everything alright?'' A voice sounded from below. ''Arika isn't here.'' Nina replied. ''Arika-chan isn't back yet? But its already morning.''

Nina recalled that Arika had indeed been gone the previous night, it had slipped her mind earlier. It wasn't unusual for a student to return to her room late, but not coming back at all was pretty much unheard of.

''I'm going to inform Miss Maria of this, she might know something.'' Nina said as she jumped down and headed towards the door.

''Wait Nina-chan, if you do that Arika-chan might get in trouble.'' Erstin had gotten up as well, she stood in the middle of the room, still wearing her pajamas and holding part of her uniform in her hands.

The blue haired girl halted. ''She might already be in trouble, but… your right, I'll go and ask Nao-senpai if she knows something.'' She said before bolting out the door.

Erstin looked at the unused beds of her friends in thought. ''She was just going to see Major Wong, Arika where are you?''

Nina arrived at Nao's room quickly and knocked on the door. There was no answer, she knocked again and then again with a bit more force. Finally after another three tries she heard some stumbles and before long the door opened and a sleepy looking Nao appeared in the door way.

''Ehh? Nina what are you doing here this early.'' The Pearl said, stifling a yawn.

''Nao-senpai, Arika has been gone since last night, have you sent her on an errant or do you know where she is?''

It took a few seconds for Nao process this. ''Arika? I haven't seen her for a while now, didn't spot her when I went out or when I got back yesterday atleast.'' She yawned. ''Look just give her a few more hours, if she's not back by noon we should probably tell the teachers. For now just stop worrying, its not like you anyway.''

Nina crossed her arms. ''I'm not worried, its just that she's been acting weird lately, she probably did something stupid again.''

Nao face made a slight grin. ''That's called worrying, now get out of here, I'll ask Chie if she's seen anything later.'' With that she closed the door, turned around and fell back into her bed.

Nina turned around aswell and headed back towards her room. ''You've got to be somewhere Arika, and you had better be alright or so help me I'll kill you myself.''

* * *

''So there's still no sign of her?'' It was now several hours later, well into the afternoon but still no sign of the missing Coral. Nina, Erstin and Irina where outside discussing their next course of action. ''No, no ones has seen her and no one knows where she could have gone.'' Nina said, replying to Irina's question. ''We should probably inform Miss Maria about this right now.''

''But what if…''

''Inform me of what.'' A voice that could send shivers down the spine of even most Meister-otome suddenly sounded from behind the trio and, as one, they turned around to face it.

''Well indulge me, what is this about? Something concerning Arika Yumemiya I assume?'' The three Corals, having only just recovered from their shock, looked surprised at this statement.

''Don't look so surprised, she has missed morning cleaning as well as several classes today and the three of you are her best friends, you are bound to know something.''

''Well you see… umm that is she's..'' Erstin started unsure of what to say.

''Miss Maria, Arika has been missing since… since last night, we first assumed that Nao-oneesama had send her out on an errant but we asked and she hasn't. We're worried that something might have happened to her.'' Nina finished for her friend.

The retired Otome raised an eyebrow and frowned in thought, at least that is what the other three assumed, it was difficult to tell really. ''This could be serious I shall inform the headmaster, you three return to your studies and do not speak of this, we do not wish for… rumors to spread. If we learn anything we'll let you know.'' With that she headed towards the administration building, leaving the three corals behind in something of a stunned silence.''

''Ehhh, that went…well didn't it?'' Irina asked after a few seconds.''

* * *

''Missing!'' Gaurderobe's headmaster called out in surprise at the news.

''Yes apparently since last night.'' The retired Meister said in confirmation.

Natsuki sat leaned back in her chair, a worried expression of her face. ''Damn first this business with Romulus and Remus and now this, I'll contact the Queen about this but we can't afford to have this known publicly yet, the students?''

''I have already instructed her friends not to tell anyone but the other students will start wondering soon.''

''I see, thank you Miss Maria, let us just hope that nothing serious happened.''


	3. Ch2 Rising up

Dying dreams.

A Mai-Otome fan-fic by Radon

Disclaimer: Mai-Otome and all related characters are property of Sunrise I do not own any part of it… at all.

All original characters appearing in the story belong to me though.

Like it? Review please. Don't like it? Review and let me know what's wrong.

Summary: An AU story of the Mai-Otome world that splits of at episode 15 of the anime. It is recommended that you've seen atleast up to this point as the story will contain some spoilers from earlier episodes. Rated T for minor language and mentioning of adult themes.

* * *

**Chapter 2**

Rising up.

_I don't know, but I don't think dreams die. Sometimes they can come back, maybe they change a bit while their gone. But… I don't really know much about dreams.

* * *

_

In the middle of nowhere, or rather in the desert several hours of travel from Windcity, the capital of Windbloom a rather odd scene was taking place.

The young red haired girl slowly opened her eyes and gazed onto a small cooking pot set above an equally small fire.

A strange metallic voice sounded suddenly. ''Good your awake, I hope you like Coolak soup 'cause I hadn't expected a companion so I didn't pack much in the way of food. Those little buggers are really hard to…. Hey can you hear me?''

The girl hadn't made a single sound or move since she had opened her eyes, she just sat there staring out into space. This was made even more unusual by the fact that the one talking to her seemed to be clad entirely in dark blue and green armor, strange contraptions were strapped, or rather, attached to its wrists and a helmet covered its head entirely. The helmet was shaped roughly like a motorcycle helmet complete with a dark visor, an earblade was attached to the right side, pointing backwards.

The cyborg, its appearance left little to imagine about its nature, got up from its kneeling position and walked over to the girl, its feet making audible clanking sounds as it did so. Helmet and all it appeared several inches shorter then an adult man, which is somewhat on the small side as far as cyborgs go. It lowered itself down on its knees again, bringing its face on equal height with that of the girl who was sitting with her back against a rock.

''Hey I'm not going to hurt you alright?'' Its visor suddenly slid up several inches revealing a pair of blue eyes. ''My name is Blaise what's yours?''

Still no reaction, Blaise's waved its hand in front of the girl's face which had no effect either.

''What am I going to do now? I was hoping she would want to go back to the city once she woke up but if she stays like this I can't bring her back and I certainly can't leave her here.''

The helmet's visor slid back down, covering its eyes. A low humming sound suddenly came from the Blaise's body as the visor lit up in a soft green light.

''_No nanomachine activity detected, trace amounts of GEM and REM radiation, no source on her though. Normal readings considering where I found her, she's clean.''_

Blaise got up and walked back to the fire, picked up the small pot and a spoon and walked back to the girl. It took a spoonful of the vaguely brown liquid and allowed it to cool for a few seconds, then opened the girl's mouth with its other hand an poured the contents of the spoon in and closed her mouth again, the girl swallowed.

* * *

After the cyborg had finished feeding the girl it quickly cleaned up camp, putting the fire out by simply crushing it with its foot and disposing of the leftover food. Once it was finished Blaise picked up the girl again, wrapping its dark cloak, which the girl had been sitting on around her as it did so.

The cyborg moved across the desert sands at high speed even while carrying the still unresponsive girl. They moved deeper into the desert, leaving Windbloom behind them and heading further into the wasteland.

''You know I'll probably get into a lot of trouble for bringing you back so you'd better thank me for this once your back to normal.''

Blaise said, attempting again to get a response out of the girl it was carrying. Yet the girl remained silent, she had closed her eyes again, whether this was because she was asleep or because she wanted to shield the from the harsh winds Blaise did not know.

* * *

By the time night had fallen the two had made it to a rocky area of the desert, Blaise leapt down a cliff, landing in front of the entrance to a rather large cave. From the shadows of the cave a man holding a rifle emerged.

''Ah Blaise your back and you've brought something with you? Anyway the leader has been waiting for your report for almost half a day, so she's not in the best of moods, you'd better hurry.''

''Thanks Gast I will.''

With that Blaise entered the cave and made its way through the tunnels until it reached the large central cave.

''Let's see here, she's probably in the meeting room right now, I'd better go and report before…''

''My my, this is the first time you've been late Blaise-chan, the leader is quite angry with you so you'd better have a good excuse.''

A voice with the same metallic, inhuman sound suddenly came from Blaise's right, it turned around, spotting its origin.

''Lumen-san, Dyne-san what are…?''

''And you've even brought a gift, really you shouldn't have.''

The taller cyborg reached over and pushed the cloak that was covering the girl in Blaise's arms aside, revealing her face, the girl's eyes were still closed.

''Hmm..? Blaise-chan you know what we are supposed to do with outsiders that come to close to the village yes?''

''of course I know but this girl wasn't anywhere near the village when I found her. Anyway the leader is waiting for me, see you later Lumen-san, Dyne-san.''

And with that Blaise bolted away from the two cyborgs.

''My my such youthful enthusiasm. Hmmm… say Dyne did that girl look familiar to you?''

''Not really.'' The large cyborg answered.

''I guess it must be my imagination then, still I wonder where Blaise found such a cutie.''

* * *

It took only a few moments for Blaise to reach the meeting room, the cyborg hesitated only a moment before entering the room. Aswad's leader, a young serious looking woman was standing before the only window in the room, looking outside. Not far from her stood a cyborg, it's back leaning against the wall.

''You're late Blaise, I was about to send someone out to look for you.'' The woman spoke.

Blaise was quick to answer. ''Forgive me leader, I was delayed somewhat on my way back, however I managed to complete my mission… ehh to an extent.''

''What do you mean by that?''

''I managed to get close enough to the ceremony building to get a detailed scan on the new Meister and her GEM. Unfortunately the girl decided that she'd rather be with her boyfriend then become an Otome so she ran of halfway through the ceremony.''

There was a short silence.

''It was rather amusing to watch really.''

''So it was a waste of time.'' The leader said after another short silence.

''Not entirely, something interesting happened the day before the ceremony, I couldn't get close enough for an accurate scan but I did get some interesting readings. From what I saw Schwarz deployed some kind of new Slave in the middle of the city. It was dispatched quickly enough, I also picked up three robe signals, at least one of them was a Meister, however judging from the magnitude and stability of the signal I'd say it was a few steps above an older Slave.''

''So Schwarz is up to something.'' This came from the cyborg who had been silent up until that point.

''Maybe, though with only one Slave it was more likely to have been a test then anything else.'' The woman replied. ''Blaise we just received an invitation from Artai's Grand Duke, me and Rad are going to see what he wants from us so we will be away for a few days. In the mean time you will be responsible for that girl you've brought in, we will discuss this matter more closely once we have returned understood?'' The woman turned around as she said this, looking strait into Blaise's visor once she faced the other way.

''Yes leader, understood. Have a safe trip.'' Blaise turned around and walked out of the room just as she was about to leave the room however the leader's voice sounded behind her.

''By the way Gal said he wanted to see you tomorrow morning for maintenance, he also said something about an upgrade.''

Blaise just nodded and left the room.

* * *

''Well this is my room its a bit small but I guess it's to late to find an empty one right now so we'll make do. Dinner is going to have to wait a while though, all the food is gone by now.''

The room the two where now in was little more then a cave, or exactly like a cave in fact. It had a window and against the wall opposite to it stood a bed, a sturdy looking chair was next to the window and a small cabinet was just beside the entrance, which was little more then a door shaped hole in the rock wall with curtains covering it.

''If you don't mind I'm going to sleep now, I've been running all day and I'm beat, you could probably use some rest as well.''

Blaise put the girl down on the bed and covered her with some blankets after the girl was tucked in the cyborg walked over to the window and covered them with some curtains. Now that the moonlight no longer illuminated the room only a faint green glow could be seen, the source of it moved a little before settling down and fading away in the darkness.

* * *

Blaise was awakened by a sudden cry, the cyborg jumped out of its chair and faced the source of the noise. The girl that it had brought wit hit the day before was sitting upright, staring strait into the cyborg's visor with a scared and confused look in her blue eyes.

''Where am I? Who…who are you? Why am I… here?''

* * *

A/N:

Coolak: A bird/fluffball thing that lives in the desert. Seen in the first episode of Mai-Otome, it feeds on scorpions and is prey to jabars and apparently cyborgs.

No Coolaks where harmed in the creation of this fan-fic.


End file.
